In the general field of computer and communications systems, there is a developing convergence such that what was previously considered different categories of office equipment are evolving toward a common or overlapping functionality. For example, laser printers and copiers use similar image creation engines that can often be shared by combination devices which have both printing and copying capabilities. In addition, as all office equipment becomes increasingly automated and computerized, all office and business equipment is becoming part of the computerized local area network or wide area network which interconnects an entire enterprise.
Separately, computer systems that were once considered stand alone are all evolving toward common interconnectivity. At one time, the various computers in an office were all operated separately. Today, the normal business has a network, either a local area network or a wide area network, inter-connecting all of the computers within the enterprise to facilitate work flow among the people who work in the enterprise. Once computerized systems in an office are networked together, it then has become necessary and appropriate to develop tools and methodologies for sharing common resources and for exchanging work files and data, even between modes of communication that were once considered quite distinct.
An example of the once distinct technology now being embedded in the modem network and computerized work environment is the technology of facsimile document transmission. Originally facsimiles started as separate devices which were capable of transmitting what is, in effect, a bit mapped version of a document through defined protocols over a telephone connection to a remote dedicated facsimile device which was capable of reproducing the bit map pattern at the remote station. While stand-alone facsimile devices certainly still exist, it has become common to incorporate a facsimile transmission and reception function into computers and computer networks having other diverse and integrated functions. Accordingly, it is common today for computers, whether networked or not, to have direct modem transmission and reception capability.
The function of facsimile transmission can become more complicated in a network environment. Often it is desired that users anywhere on a computerized network be able to send facsimiles from a common facility to outside the enterprise. In a typical present embodiment of an automated facsimile system, the system requires that proprietary tags be attached to each document that are sent to a dedicated server which functions as the output device for the facsimile function in this system. The proprietary tags contain information, like the intended recipient facsimile number, that is needed to route the application output as a facsimile. The nature of the proprietary tags depends on the particular vendor supplying the networked facsimile transmission system for that business. These systems suffer from the drawback that such proprietary tags are required in order to properly direct a facsimile throughout a system. Many times an enterprise has many users who are comfortable with, and have been using for many years, applications which are no longer current. These are sometimes referred to in the computerized industry as legacy applications. When an enterprise has a large investment, either financial or human, in given legacy applications, the customers have no desire to lose the applications and to modify or change the applications which they use merely to add the additional capability of having automated facsimile capability integrated into their work station. Since the functionality of most prior facsimile transmission systems depends on proprietary tags, and because most legacy systems will not have the capability to add such tags, this may limit the applicability of automated facsimile systems in networks for large enterprises.
What is needed therefor is a methodology to provide a way to automate the transmission of facsimile transmissions from a network system which may contain legacy applications creating documents in unique formats and without proprietary tags attached.